Squatters forced to leave Clackamas County farm

SANDY, Ore. — A group of squatters were evicted from farm and forest land they’d turned into a junkyard.

A Clackamas County judge set a midnight deadline on July 31 for the squatters to leave the rural property. The squatters were gone by the next morning.

“It’s a good start. We can see something happening and that’s a good sign,” said neighbor Joe Rinard.

The squatters are gone but they left behind a huge mess. The five acres on Southeast Music Camp Road is littered with car parts, construction material and other debris.

“I just hope someone can come in and clean up the mess and turn the property around,” said Rinard.

The Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office has been called to the property 62 times in the past two years, according to county records.

The problem started several years ago, when the longtime residents passed away. Records show Joel Ward, a relative, took over the property, then came the mess.

Ward was not available for comment.

In May 2014, Clackamas County started receiving complaints about the property near Sandy. Neighbors said trash was accumulating on the land, people were living in RVs and someone was operating an illegal sandblasting business. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality later shut down the sandblasting operation.

Over the next three years, records show code enforcement officers visited the property repeatedly. Clackamas County assessed more than $25,000 in fines and filed a lien against the property for various violations. The fines were never paid, records indicate. The bank foreclosed on the property.

In late June, Wells Fargo took ownership of the property after it failed to sell at public auction.

Neighbors say the bank has been monitoring the eviction process. No timeline has been given for cleanup.